Partnerships in Place Based Education - Literature review Example

Partnerships in Place Based Education Name of Student Student Number Institution Course Code Name of Lecturer Date of Submission The Impact of Successful Partnership Building on Place Based Education. Introduction Place-based education involves various attributes revolving around community-based learning, service learning, project-based learning, sustainability education, as well as environment as an integrating concept. The overall initiative in respect to place-based education involves the explicit connection that is initiated between the school and the community where the institution is situated (Powers, 2004). Thus, the overall realisation of place-based education programmes involves the interplay of the school officials and the community to actualise the target goals and objectives bringing about a cohesive partnership. Partnerships come about based on certain goals and objective within a societal context involving the subject learners and the community at large. Developing strategic partnership involves having effective technical knowhow of the eventual outcome in respect to target goals, as well as the intended performance in the long run (Smith & Sobel, 2010). Creating successful and sustainable partnerships has been entrenched in the aspect of place-based education efforts to promote the strategic process of actualising the partnerships. The implementation of place-based regional development fosters the need for the same concept to be inculcated in the formation of partnerships in education to realise better returns (Powers, 2004). This paper aims at critically analysing the importance of creating strategic partnership within a society so as to foster place based education. The successes of place based education with regard to formation and sustenance of partnership with community organisations will also be discussed. Place-Based Education Developing Strategic Partnerships Place based education has evolved overtime to become one of the best strategies to inculcate the ability of learners to solve issues that directly affect the society. Gruenewald (2003) stipulate that place based education as a tradition allows for individual members of a society to directly engage in ensuring the wellbeing of the social and environmental spaces they indeed inhabit. It is the interplay between the learning process and the community issues connecting learners to outer happenings in the society. Place based education has failed to take effect in various communities due to the notion that the aim of education is to ensure one of economic empowerment and therefore, fails to deal with issues around the learning society due to the competitiveness accrued. The practices of place based education are closely linked to those of problem based learning, contextual learning, experiential learning, community based education, environmental education, indigenous education as well as democratic education (Gruenewald, 2003). However, it is difficult to have a place based education program put in place without establishing partnership with other organisations in the community. In this regard, effective partnerships are made necessary between the learning institutions and the community to foster effective collaborative efforts to actualise the place-based learning processes. Educational processes are changing at an alarming late with technology resulting into children who are increasingly getting disconnected to their community. The process of using the local community in partnership, as well as the surrounding to foster learning processes through place-based education is critical starting point in the life of a child (Lewicki, 2010). Getting in touch with reality in learning is presented by such actions of engaging with the environment, the community and the concepts within the nature. The concept of place-based education gives teachers the motivation to include places in the development of curriculum. This results in learners getting the capacity to pursue the kind of social action that promotes social and ecological attributes of places that within, beyond, happening currently or in the future. Learning getting knowledge based on their communities and taking action within their backyards and communities promotes understanding (Smith, 2013). This is fostered by the creation of a sense of wonder in the teaching of learners with respect to values entrenched in the community without solely relying on academic only. The engaging of students in the learning process, as well as their social environment, they are better placed to develop necessary skills and knowledge to grasp opportunities to help them reach their full potential (Powers, 2004). In this context, understanding the increased need for collaborative efforts and partnerships in the creation and sustaining of place-based educational processes is necessary to promote learning processes that fosters overall growth of an individual. When students are taught in line with aspects within their community, increased understanding of the surrounding and happenings occurring is enhanced and future prospect of occurrences is also nurtured. The place based education model is based on the works of various community based initiatives and has its backbone as the resources the community offers, the problems that arise in these societies and the values of the community (Gruenewald, 2003). When partnerships between schools and communities are facilitated, the place based initiative allows for students to improve on achievement while improving the communities’ social economic and environmental quality (Powers, 2004). Effective place based education necessitates there be a close connectivity between the school and community in which the learning institution is situated and to achieve this, various organizations have to come together and set up learning programs which will benefit both the community and the learners. It is however notable that effective place based education is two ways meaning the learning institution has to open its doors for community initiatives and the community allows the learners from the institution explore every facet of the community in the learning process. Elements of place-based education are inherent examples of strategies embraced by educators in cases of experiential learning, service-learning, case-based learning, action research, outdoor learning and problem-based education. The uniqueness of place-based education is entrenched in its contextualisation at the local level, inherently interdisciplinary nature, as well as clear intention for motivating students to better and understand the community and the environment. These attributes entrenched in the learning process are taken as the fundamental objectives of learning. According to Lewicki (2010), place-based education can also be connected to constructivist theory with the context of place based education meaning everything that is needed is connected to sustainability. The concerns of happenings among learners in respect to place-based education involve pointing on the importance of entrenching commitment to the education process within the culture of school and community. The theoretical underpinnings of place-based education go back centuries back. Place-based education has been linked to John Dewey’s model of emphasising learners’ connection to their achievement or their surroundings. Smith (2013) critically linked place-based education to Dewey arguing that the education processes are supported by a foundation of high-quality research having in-depth scope unlike other qualitative and anecdotal researches that support place-based education currently. Place-based learning is necessary to be evaluated with a view to understanding how effectively it promotes partnerships between learners and the communities, as well as how it fosters effective learning process for the benefit of the students. To examine how place based education proves effective we ought to consider the importance of fostering a learner’s intrinsic motivation toward learning. Wadsworth (1978) argues that Piagets theory of motivation is linked to the values that support place based education. He argues that the learner ought to be active in order to learn. Learners are more motivated to learn if they see the relevance of what they are studying and it effect on the community they live in. An evaluative program that was carried out by the Harvard Graduate School of Education for the Rural Trust (1999), show case studies of learning institutions and communities across rural America that have been changed to habitable communities by way of enhancing student’s involvement with the local community in their learning process and advertently doing away with didactic approaches to learning. The evaluation proves that indeed the students’ academic achievement improves their contribution towards the wellbeing of community increases, teachers are more satisfied with their line of work and members of the community are more connected with the learning process of their children when schools and communities come together and design the objectives and strategies of the curriculum. Hennes (2001) emphasise that in case learners get involved in real projects that add value to the community, there are positive outcomes to be realised. The adults and youth show improved views towards each other, improved collaboration between school and governments, minimised costs of projects and increased community demand and appreciation of student involvement in community matters. From a critical point of view, fact-based learning with a bias to the environment in which a student is well aware, increased understanding of the concepts is fostered. When any individual develops an attachment to his or her community and has all it takes to get involved in community matters then one’s participation in community based initiatives is fostered (Smith, 2013). With the growth of this involvement of an individual, institution or organisation into community matters comes the broadening of social capital. Putnam (2001) defines social capital as the characteristics of a social organisation which include norms, networks and social trust that foster the collaboration of organisations for mutual benefit. A healthy and happy community in areas economic, social and environmental is therefore the probable outcome of improved community social capital. In context, with inclusion of place-based learning attributes, a learner is able to comprehend these aspects first hand promoting their gist to the eventual outcomes in the society and future life happenings. The use of community partners provides a good source of resources, diverse viewpoints, broad base of skills and knowledge as well as financial support (Smith, 2013). Without this provisions place based education no matter how the learning institutions try to implement is prone to failure. Engagement with community workers also enable the learners to work on projects that prove to be of real value to the community therefore enabling the students build their problem solving skills. The staff involved around the community where place based education is facilitated are said to have more satisfaction aroused from their working capacities, they may include teachers, community managers or administrators (Lewicki, 2010). Staff here shows improved skills in process facilitation, teaching, child development, curriculum development as well as more tangible skills such as mapping with geographic positioning systems, forestry practices, utilisation of computers and gardening (Powers, 2004). By being introduced to previously unknown places and community partners, the staff involved are motivated and this therefore, proves a strengthening factor that facilitate place based education. Educational programmes embracing initiatives targeting community development enhance the work of community based organisations. Increased collaborative efforts by organisations funded by other stakeholders or partially by the authorities promote community based projects to promote the wellbeing of the subjects (Smith and Sobel, 2010). Community based organisations (CBOs) represent an untapped source of opportunities to foster problem based education strategies (Harvard Graduate School 1999). CBOs play a pivotal role in connecting members of a community and schooling institutions. They might be private non-profit organisations situated in and representative of various segments of a society CBOs may deal with diverse issues such as cultural, social, health or humanitarian needs of a specific community. When learning institutions liaise with these CBOs, they aim at involving their curriculum with problem solving initiatives so as to benefit both the surrounding community and the students. Public schools that establish partnerships with community based organisations share the strength of a community and venture into existing cultures that allow free flow of knowledge, skills and ideas (Adger and Locke, 2000). The overall outcome of collaborative efforts of schools and the community is a community empowered by the educational programmes impacts, as well as learners having a clear understanding of the main attributes within the community affecting the subjects. This raises a clique of students with first-hand knowledge and innovative minds to come up with ideas geared towards coming up with solutions on problems facing the community. Critics of place based education argue that the primary objective of education is to prepare learners to work in a technological advancing consumer oriented society unlike place based educators whose belief is that education should prepare students to live and work to facilitate and sustain the cultural and environmental integrity of the communities they live in. The main purpose of place based education is to provide meaningful environmental experiences that go beyond those that revolve around classroom instruction which tend to rely mostly on print and electronic media (Knapp, 1996). Programs put in place to facilitate place based education face some challenges since they have to involve several disciplines. The most noted external constraint that may impede the implementation of place based education is the lack of time to implement change of curriculum. Place based education calls for integration of the whole process of learning with a fresh curriculum that advances problem based learning of concepts. To allow for this change adequate time has to be put in place where all partners come together and design a curriculum that allow maximum contact with the community (Powers,2004). Place based educators agree that there is inevitably more time needed with establishing and maintaining contacts in the community, arranging for movement of students from their institutions into the community, preparing the learners with necessary skills ranging from communication, behaviour while engaging with elderly folk to proper and safe use of technological equipment. Such challenges call for an intense discussion of program processes since there is need to account for all this issues in the curriculum design and implementation. The realisation of set targets and goals may be hampered by time constraints or inefficiencies in the partnership processes that requires necessary collaborative efforts to be put in place to foster educational growth. To allow for battling of time constraints a whole new school improvement model needs to be put in place before the onset of the place based education program. Powers, (2004) argue that in order to run a place based education program effectively, the place based educator should garner adequate support from administrators in taking time to engage with the new model of learning. The partnering organization may offer staff or interns who go into the schools on a part time basis with an aim to facilitate support and capacity building efforts which enable the teachers or place based educators manage the transition from an old manner of teaching to a new one. Mclnerney et al, (2001) argue that most of the notable features of place based education are contained in ecological studies, service learning, history courses, outdoor education and work related programs in schools. There have been notable signs of growing interest more so in communities which feel the demise of local studies and are pushing for more standardised curricula. The pushing of more standardised curriculum programmes is aimed at inculcating aspects of learning that embraced a holistic approach to life attributes. Place based educators argue that this model of learning invest young people with a feeling of importance. Further, it inculcates into them the fact that they are indeed producers of knowledge and not consumers, enriches their education by offering problem based learning or rather hands on learning and gives them the necessary knowledge and experiences that allow for efficient participation in democratic processes and coming up with solutions to social, economic and environmental problems (Smith and Sobel, 2010). An education process that empowers a student is critical for the development of a productive society for the future benefits of not only the individual, but also the community at large. In context, with a clear understanding of the community attributes and aspects entrenched in the curriculum, learners are able to come up with skills and attributes that foster overall growth and development. However, critics argue that place based learning lacks a critical perspective, fails to show links between global and local phenomena; an aspect that is important in understanding the causes and impacts of environmental, economic and social problems and they also stipulate that place based education lacks relevant theoretical approaches (Gruenewald, 2003). Nevertheless, whenever a learner is made aware of the social aspects within their lives, and then empowered with respect to how they can effectively impact on their learning processes, greater results are bound to be realised. Mclnerney et al. (2001) talk of programs which encourage student participation in caring for their immediate environment as allowing for revitalizing the commons which constitute the natural features such as forests and water and also the cultural traditions that are shared among all members of a community. When organizations that deal with maintaining the community environment to allow for the well-being of its inhabitants liaise with schooling institutions to inculcate into learners the need to revitalize this commons, then place based education is indeed taking place. Schools that seek to revitalize the commons must as well foster learners understanding of issues that lead to environmental issues that confront humanity and the retrogressive economic and social factors that lead to degradation of the well-being of community members. Dewey, (2001) argue that there is a need to bring schools and communities together since without this partnerships, students are unable to utilize knowledge that is gained outside the classroom setting in a productive way in their classroom learning same way they are unable to apply what is learnt at schools in their daily life. It is therefore notable that place based educators strive to close the gap between school and day to day life events and they achieve this by utilizing the factor of place as a guiding principle in the designing and implementation of curriculum and teaching practices. The primary purpose of schooling has over time been defined by economic outcomes rather than the need to advance communities socially and culturally. The growing rift between schools and communities is attributed to how the agenda for public education in many countries has been driven by state and national educational policies which are reluctant in accommodating local context, school based curricula and community based learning. To pursue vendetta against this retrogressive policies schools in various localities have to form closer ties with outside disciplines such as environmentalists, business organizations or even state corporations so as to advocate for a change to curriculum that allows for community growth as well as the advancement of students learning outcomes (Sobel, 2005). With engagement in place based education, students begin to see great purpose in their schooling more so when the community recognizes and appreciates the products of the learner’s engagement with community therefore allowing for learners to appreciate working together with their partners in the community on projects which they feel is of more importance compared to the normal text book learning in classroom settings. Place based education allows for students to enhance their social networks and also gives them employment prospects and this is achieved only by bringing the students into contact with people and organizations within their communities. Place based education cannot be put into play without considering the factor of teacher education thus, partnership with teacher education institutions is of much relevance. Reid, (2007) argues that if in case we are to promote a critical approach to place based learning in our learning institutions it is of much importance to think of how teachers will be prepared to develop curriculum that facilitate community based learning. School institutions have to liaise with universities that train teachers on ways to go about place based learning through seminars and set programs (Dewey, 2001). Although teachers are inhibited by assigned curriculum requirements there is still some wide scope for place based learning in the selection of teaching methodologies and content. The challenge however is to get teachers who have been trained to go about teaching curriculums which do not involve hands on activities to teach in new ways which involve problem based learning. Targeting acquisition of trainers with the right curriculum attributes promotes efficiency in respect to realising the intended goals of place-based education and sustainability development of the society. Increased collaborative of the various stakeholders ensure there is a clear outline of the necessary aspects to be included in the curriculum. Thus, even in the event of review, the necessary changes are made based on the societal attributes at hand. Strong partnerships are built on the basis of mutual consent, and hence, sustainability of the process is pegged upon effective conducting of the set out activities towards meeting the target goals. Educational programmes involve structures that entrench a culture of creating knowledge and embracing change (Sobel, 2005). To clearly understand the aspect of collaborative attributes between the schools and the community in the place-based education, there is need to understand the connection of education to attributes entrenched in the learners from the society. The core beneficiaries of educational processes are subjects entrenched in the core of the society and thus, the inclusion of the society at large through this process enables the realisation of effective collaborative contexts of educational processes (Smith & Sobel, 2010). The partnerships created are expected to last for as long as the institutions for learning are in place to ensure that changes in the society impact to the learning processes and vice versa. The complexities associated with the demand of place-based educational policies are challenging (Powers, 2004). In this regard, there is a need for collaborative, cross-sector and multi-level frameworks to be put in place for the evaluation of how to effectively implement the projects with respect to a specific place or setting. This is basically true for places where the policy-makers are guided by the commitment for results in their management process, as well as being accountable for the financial obligations accorded to them. Partnerships fosters significant growth in the quest for enhancing educational attributes entrenched in the course of creating sustainable learning processes. Place-based education presents critical processes of learning programmes at the community level while addressing issues surrounding their lives at hand (Smith, 2013). Pressing challenges in the community settings compels educators to evaluate the essence of the learning processes employed and hence, embrace strategies that promote overall growth of a learner. Adopting environmentally-informed and transformative approaches in education processes becomes a core attribute in place-based learning giving a wide scope of learning coverage (Gruenewald, 2003). The critical aspects embraced in the learning processes brings about a wide scope of covering local context within the curriculum fostering the understanding of existing and surrounding issues in the society. Educational learning based on the environment surrounding the learners fostering a human relationship with the world, as well as gives a clear understanding of the intended outcome within a curriculum context (Sobel, 2005). The principle of environmental project learning based on place-based attributes fosters the understanding of community based aspects with learning directed towards comprehending and restoring confidence in the learning process. On analysis, it apparent that place-based education is prevalent to the current and future learning processes in order to realise an integrated process of education that embraces community aspects. The quest for enhancing place-based learning partnerships is necessary, but the most intriguing aspect of all is entrenched in the need for ensuring sustainability of the processes (Smith and Sobel, 2010). Place-based learning can occur in any settings and require the connection of the students to the environment in their context. The interaction of community members with students in their learning processes fosters an aura of the real life experiences for the learners with a clear understanding and analysis of the happenings within the society (Powers, 2004). Through interactive sessions and collaborative efforts, learners acquire skills and experiences that not only enhance the comprehension of concepts, but also improve critical consideration of happenings in the society with respect to their learning processes. Conclusion and Recommendations for Successful Partnerships Building and Sustainability In conclusion, the analysis of place-based education and partnerships in learning processes presents a critical attributes that promotes collaborative efforts in promoting learning and understanding of concepts. The promotion of learning processes is enhanced with regard to learners having the capacity to interact with actual environment and equating the learning concepts with issues in the community. Thus, institutions that intend to get involved in place-based education have to facilitate partnerships with community organisations to ensure meeting of set objectives. These partnerships come in handy in matters ranging from curriculum design and implementation, training of teachers, provision of necessary equipment, and financial support to evaluation. For successful partnerships, place-based education ought to be regarded as a model of learning that allow for promotion of student’s civic engagement, facilitation of the wellbeing of community members as well as the environment and fostering of values that are not stipulated in schooling approaches. When partnerships between schools and communities are facilitated, the place based initiative allows for students to improve on achievement while improving the communities’ social economic and environmental quality. Engagement with community workers enable students to work on projects that prove to be of real value to the community therefore enabling the students build their problem solving skills at the same time improving the well-being of their communities. Strategic partnerships should therefore be emphasised since they form the backbone of place based education and without them the approach to learning is likely to fail. With considerable findings pertaining to the contribution made in the society by place-based education programmes, increased utilisation of the models is necessary. In the last few years, place-based community change initiatives have been put in place introducing renewed attention worldwide with considerable support from various stakeholders. For continued success of the place-based education initiatives in partnership programmes, the following recommendations hold for making successful and sustainable partnerships with respect to place-based education. There is need for increased collaborative efforts to come up integrated and strategized curriculum towards ensuring improved utilisation of place-based education programmes. The delivery of projects initiated through partnerships project ought to have well outlined goals and objectives addressing the very core fabric of the society at hand. Collaborating with stakeholders in the community, the government as well as the non-governmental organisations is necessary to come up with policy formulation of briefs that addresses how to effectively conduct the partnerships in respect to place-based education for the benefit of the individuals targeted by the project. Sustainable development and implementation of the place-based education is crucial within the era of increased technology use to come up with holistic learners. In order to continuously develop sustainable development in the place-based education, creating competitive advantage strategies is necessary to enhance efficiency and overall outcome of the projects undertaken. Increased reforms in the education processes and partnerships engagements require continued and renewed efforts in respect to foundational competitive advantage. When coming up with partnerships, there is need for stakeholders to effectively commit themselves and sign to ensure sustainability and success of programs initiated. The essence of supporting a programme is ensuring that the target goals and objectives are achieved, and thus, giving commitments that are official shows greater obligation fostering following up. Collaborative efforts ought to make sense to all parties involved in the partnerships whether the main interest is commercial, social or environmental. This ensures that all parties to the partnership feel part parcel of the process and embrace it to end. References Adger, C.T., & Locke, J. (2000). Broadening the base: School/community partnerships serving language minority students at risk (Educational Practice Report#6). 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The politics and possibilities of a critical pedagogy of place-based education, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39:1, 3-16. Powers, A.L. (2004). An evaluation of four place-based education programs. Journal of Environmental Education, 35, 17–32. Putnam, R. (2001). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Touchstone. Reid, J. (2007). Literacy and environmental communications: Towards a “pedagogy of responsibility”. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 30(2), 118–133. Smith, G. & Sobel, D. (2010). Place and community-based education in schools. London: Routledge. Smith, G. (2013). Place-based education. In R. Stevenson, M. Brody, J. Dillon, & A.E. Wals, (Eds.), International handbook of research on environmental education (pp. 213-220). New York, NY: Routledge Publishers for the American Education Research Association. Sobel, D. (2005). Place-based education: Connecting classrooms and communities. Great Barrington, MA: Orion Society. Wadsworth, B.J. (1978). Piaget for the classroom teacher. New York: Longman. Read More